Syria

Many Western analysts highly underestimate the existential nature of the repeated threats by Iranian leaders to the destruction of Israel. By BOB FEFERMAN October 16, 2018 21:19 Over the past 18 months, we have seen growing tension on Israel’s northern border. According to recent reports, the Israeli Air Force has conducted more than 200 […]

IRGC says last night’s attack in Syria was only first stage of response ByLeith Aboufadel 2018-10-01 BEIRUT, LEBANON (6:20 P.M.) – The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said in a new statement that last night’s attack in eastern Syria was only the first stage of their response. “The first phase of retaliation for the Ahvaz attack […]

October 1, 2018 By 21wire AHT Russia has decided to send to Syria its S-300 VM system and has started delivering the Krasukha 4 radar systems jammer and other related military equipment. These installations indicate the low level of relations between Moscow and Tel Aviv. Israel’s capacity to destroy the new Russian system in Syria is not at issue. […]

Experts said the Syrian regime felt more confident after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem pledged that Syria will retake Golan Heights from Israel in his address to the UN General Assembly. By MAYA MARGIT/THE MEDIA LINE September 30, 2018 17:19 Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Muallem addressed the UN General Assembly on Saturday with a […]

Iranian media reports that Russia has given Israel permission to attack Iranian bases in Syria other than ones near Russian troops. Tzvi Lev, 27/09/18 Iranian media reports that Russia does not intend to prevent future Israeli airstrikes on Iranian weapons facilities and shipments in Syria other than a few areas in southern Syria. The report […]

Iranian president says Tehran will keep its forces in Syria for as long as Assad wants them there; Israel repeatedly vows not to let Iran entrench itself on the northern border By Agencies and TOI staff UNITED NATIONS — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran would stay in Syria for as long as the […]

Moscow has placed the blame of the downing of the Russian reconnaissance plane last week on Israel, accusing it of using the IL-20 as cover to carry out the strikes on targets in Syria. Anna Ahronheim September 25, 2018 10:44 Russia has announced that it has radar data proving that Israeli jets hid behind the […]

National Security Advisor John Bolton urges Russia to reconsider plan to transfer advanced missiles to Syria. David Rosenberg, 24/09/18 20:57 John Bolton Reuters The US National Security Advisor said Tehran should be held responsible for last week’s downing of a Russian military plane over Syria, and warned Monday that Russian plans to transfer advanced […]

TEHRAN, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) — Iran‘s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday urged Israel to immediately stop the construction of new settlements in the occupied territories of Palestinians.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said continuous construction of the settlements in the Palestinian territories is against the international laws, semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Qasemi called on the international community to pressure Israel which, he said, has “defied the UN resolutions” and has continued its aggressive and expansionist policies.

On Tuesday, Israel announced a plan to build 2,500 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Israel seized East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War, along with the rest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It later annexed East Jerusalem and declared it as part of its “eternal” capital, in a move that has never been recognized by the international community.

There were two unclaimed explosions in Damascus overnight Thursday and early Friday (Jan.12-13) – one at an officers club in Damascus and the second at Mezzeh airport, which Syria alleged was the work of the new Israeli S-35 stealth aircraft firing across the border from a point over the Sea of Galilee.

There was no claim to either of the attacks.
The standard Israeli policy of striking any Iranian arms shipments for Hizballah in Lebanon when they cross through Syria would not longer be applicable to any such air strike, if indeed one was launched..

The Lebanese Shiite Hizballah deploys 9,000 elite fighters in Syria to fight for Bashar Assad. Its Iranian arms supplies no longer need to risk being trucked through Syria to Lebanon; they can be delivered directly to Hizballah bases in Syria without exposure to Israel air strikes.

Indeed, should the pro-Iranian Hizballah decide to go back to shooting missiles at Israel – or using Iranian-supplied unconventional weapon – it has new launching pads readily available in Syria from those very bases. They are located in the Qalamoun mountains in western Syria and at Zabadani, a Syrian ghost town near the Damascus-Beirut highway, which the Lebanese terror group has made its military center.

Both would be obvious targets for Israel to attack rather than Damascus’ Mezzeh airport.

Tehran, having grasped from bitter experience that Mezzeh is under close surveillance by Israeli intelligence, no longer uses its facilities. Instead Iran flies arms shipments for Hizballah to Beirut by commercial aircraft, which Israel prefers not to attack, or overland through Iraq to northwestern Syria, where the consignments are picked up and transferred to Lebanon by sea.

So if an Israeli F-35 air strike on the Damascus airport should be confirmed, its target would not have been Iranian and Hizballah military supplies. Mezzeh is the site of a sterile zone set aside for the exclusive use of President Bashar Assad, his family and his top military and intelligence chiefs. It also houses laboratories for developing and manufacturing unconventional weapons, as well serving as the main command center for the 4th Division, whose Republican Guard unit protects the president, his family and members of the ruling caste.

In the first attack, a suicide bomber blew himself up Thursday night at the officers’ club in the heavily policed Kafra Sousa district of Damascus. At least ten people were killed and dozens injured. Located there are the homes of many Assad loyalists in the security and military establishments, as well as top secret facilities.

The ability of a suicide bomber to penetrate one of the most heavily secured locations in Damascus and blow up at an exclusive regime watering hole raises questions about the inner workings of the Assad regime.

Some unknown hand struck into the heart of that regime in the space of a few hours – not once, but twice.The Assad regime used its standard scapegoat, Israel, for covering up embarrassing and inexplicable occurrences.

However, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources disclose that the regime has reached an awkward crossroads. The Russians have taken charge of the Syrian war and no longer bother to consult with the Syrian president or Iran on its conduct. They are deeply immersed in preparing the Syrian peace conference they are sponsoring which is scheduled to open at Astana, Kazakhstan on Jan. 23.
If Moscow coordinates its Syrian strategy with anyone, it is Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, but even then only to a limited extent.
The Syrian ruler and Iran, after being sidelined by the Russians, are following their example. Both have taken to holding their cards close to their vests and operating under in close secrecy.

In an attempt to pierce the resulting aura of mistrust spreading over the staunch Iranian-Syrian alliance, Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran and one of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s closest confidants, was sent to Damascus Sunday, Jan 8, to find out what is going on there

The mystery deepened further Friday morning, when Syrian state media ran photos of a big blaze – which may or may not be authentic – to illustrate the alleged Israeli attack on Mezzeh airport.